Adam Brody

[0] Welcome, welcome, welcome to armchair expert.

[1] I'm Dan Shepard.

[2] I'm joined by Manager Mouse.

[3] Hi there.

[4] Hi, Manager Mouse.

[5] We have a new setup.

[6] Oh, I know.

[7] We have really loud, well, I have really loud headphones now.

[8] We've got like an amplifier that Wabiwob snuck in and put on the desk.

[9] Very fancy.

[10] Are you liking it more?

[11] I have everyone turned down pretty low.

[12] Yeah, you like to have no noise.

[13] I don't like it when it's screaming in my ear, no. Myself or anyone else.

[14] You don't like it.

[15] No, I don't like it.

[16] It's not for you.

[17] Mm -mm.

[18] You know who is for you?

[19] Who?

[20] Adam Brody.

[21] He is.

[22] Oh, Adam Brody.

[23] He's an actor, a writer, and a producer.

[24] You know him, he's so damn cute and talented.

[25] He was on the O .C. Gilmore Girls, Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

[26] And of course, Chips.

[27] Of course, he was so good in it.

[28] Oh, the best part.

[29] And he has a new movie out called The Kid Detective that I've only seen the trailer, but which is a phenomenal trailer.

[30] I'm just going to say that.

[31] And I cannot wait to get the link and watch it.

[32] So please enjoy.

[33] Adam Brody.

[34] Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now.

[35] Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.

[36] Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.

[37] He's an armchair expert.

[38] You know, the reason I was late, I want to apologize.

[39] I should have my coffee prepared at 11 a .m. on the dot.

[40] And I didn't, and I'll tell you why, because as I was reading about you, I kept thinking like, oh, my God, that's right.

[41] He was in Lovelace.

[42] And then I would be like, I want to watch some of Lovelace.

[43] So I was like watching trailers, a weird shit.

[44] And I just kind of got distracted.

[45] But ultimately, because I like you.

[46] Yeah.

[47] In fairness, you were probably one minute late.

[48] Okay, thank you so much.

[49] Can we start by saying, and maybe this is one -sided, but I don't think so.

[50] We just genuinely like each other so much, right?

[51] yes correct yeah for not spending a ton of time together i know that i always cherish every time i get to sit down and chat with you i appreciate that i remember when you first introduced yourself to me it was at was out a premiere for something and you came up and we started talking about strange angel the uh jack parsons book written by george pendle and anyway you were just always unfailingly nice to me and then you cast me in your movie years later so like slash bagged you to do it for very little money.

[52] No, that's not true.

[53] We reached out and said, can you, you want to give him this part?

[54] And he said, would you do it?

[55] And he said, of course.

[56] Well, I think what's helped is we have connective tissue, which is your agent, Kevin.

[57] I'm friends with through my wife's stylist Nicole Chavez, who's the best stylist on the planet.

[58] And so we know them very well.

[59] And then I think I knew through Kevin that you like that book.

[60] And it's a very, I guess it's like a litmus test book, right?

[61] If someone's into that book, I guess I think, I'm going to just assume they're a very interesting person.

[62] Tell us about Strange Angel.

[63] So I had the rights to this book for like seven years, eight years, try to get it made.

[64] As a movie, it's a biography about this guy, Jack Parsons, who was a rocket scientist.

[65] He pretty much invented rocket fuel out of his garage.

[66] Yeah, yeah.

[67] He's a home -trained explosives expert in Los Angeles in the 30s, 40s, and then blew himself up and died in his garage in the 50s.

[68] Spectacularly, right?

[69] Like, the blast was heard blocks away.

[70] Yes.

[71] Yes.

[72] And, And simultaneously while doing that and being in this rag tag outfit, offshoot of Caltech, inventing rocket fuel that got co -opted into being the first jet propellers to help World War two planes take off from short runways and aircraft carriers and stuff.

[73] Anyways, he did that while simultaneously getting very involved in Philema, which was like a black magic outfit worldwide, and a major part of that was sex magic.

[74] So he's this devotee of sex magic.

[75] and explosives.

[76] He's basically Ted Nugent.

[77] I suppose.

[78] Modern day Ted Nugent.

[79] One of the things I loved about it, that's not as thematically important, but it just, in terms of L .A. history, it just touched on every great thing of L .A. history.

[80] El Ron Hubbard figures prominently into it as a romantic and intellectual rival early on.

[81] And formidable, you know, like when he's young and formidable, not that he wasn't formidable when he was older.

[82] But anyways, it touched on all this great stuff.

[83] And we were trying to make the movie for a while.

[84] And, you know, it was, it was going to be like a $10 million.

[85] You know, I couldn't see it less than $10 million, which is very hard.

[86] Yeah, because you're going to have to do the science aspect.

[87] You're going to have to do the period piece aspect.

[88] There's a lot of hurdles that you can't shoot it for a million bucks.

[89] No. Can I add a couple things about him, too, that I love?

[90] Shoot.

[91] I think we would all imagine that the birth of rocket science and jet propulsion laboratory was like people who had graduated with degrees in that and then became employed.

[92] But, of course, there were no degrees.

[93] And this guy was basically, he was super in a science fiction.

[94] And he was kind of like a model rocketeer, right?

[95] He was like blowing shit up in these Royos in Pasadena.

[96] And as you say, you find up this awesome history of Pasadena, which was, it was kind of like the sexy playground for people on the East Coast in the winter.

[97] So the Wrigley family.

[98] So there was these mansions.

[99] And yeah, what a juicy ass.

[100] Oh, fuck.

[101] Pause for one second.

[102] Hi, Monica Padman.

[103] Hi.

[104] Hi there.

[105] Oh, they're not plugged in.

[106] Hold on.

[107] I got to do one more silly thing.

[108] Adam really really stumbled into a technically adverse episode of the show.

[109] Okay, we're full party mode now.

[110] We're full party mode now.

[111] Nice.

[112] Hello.

[113] Have you ever met Adam?

[114] No, I have not.

[115] Well, you were both in chips.

[116] I thought maybe that you had bumped into each other.

[117] We didn't cross paths.

[118] No, I didn't know that.

[119] Oh, cool.

[120] Can I say that I hope this doesn't offend you, but Adam was the best part of chips.

[121] Yeah.

[122] Oh, there's no question he was the best part of chips.

[123] and I tend to publicly state that in numerous different ways.

[124] Okay, good.

[125] I don't know about that, but I did have like the two best jokes in it.

[126] One, getting shot in the arm the second time.

[127] And two, hitting the people with a car or with the Winnebago, not me, but saying they're paparazzi, it's fine.

[128] Those are solid, that's solid, solid joke and a solid gag.

[129] Yeah, you were basically the king of the payoff.

[130] Like there was all these setups and then you just kept getting to pay everything, like wrap everything up the third time.

[131] They're set up for success.

[132] That's true.

[133] Well, we'll say, we haven't talked about it.

[134] I don't think I've really, I've seen you, but I haven't talked about your show yet.

[135] I'm a huge fan.

[136] I listen to it a lot.

[137] Oh, no shit.

[138] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[139] It's so funny because as soon as I dialed in, I was like, why doesn't Adam have a podcast?

[140] You're the kind of the perfect person to have one.

[141] Or do you have one?

[142] I don't have one.

[143] And I don't know.

[144] But let me paint the other pictures for why I think you'd be a great candidate for a really compelling podcast.

[145] Yes, but we were just now talking about Jack Parsons.

[146] Marvel Whiteside Parsons, I believe, was his full real name.

[147] Oh, my God.

[148] You have an encyclopedic knowledge of him.

[149] So the foundation for why we liked each other so much is he had read this book, Strange Angel, and I had two, and almost no one's read the book.

[150] And if you're, and if you like it, I guess I assume about you, you're interested in just very eclectic weirdos like, Giam, because the guy was so weird and we were just talking about that he was very obsessed with sex magic.

[151] He invented modern rocket propulsion.

[152] He blew himself up in his garage.

[153] That's right.

[154] We talked about him on a previous episode.

[155] Yeah.

[156] And he had some friendship with Alster Crawley.

[157] Is that as well?

[158] Well, Alistair Crowley was the leader of Thelemma, if I'm saying it right.

[159] And so, yeah, he was like his, you know, spiritual godfather.

[160] And then some orgies, right?

[161] They had orgies.

[162] Orgies were the thing.

[163] It was, you derived a lot of your power from sex.

[164] It was weird.

[165] I wasn't looking to, like, try and produce a starring vehicle for myself that was in many ways like a sex film.

[166] But it's just like, that's, you know.

[167] Or doubt.

[168] what happened.

[169] It'd be dishonest to ignore that part is what I'd argue.

[170] It'd be crazy.

[171] And I mean, I thought the link between rocket fuel and explosions and orgasm, there's a lot there.

[172] And also, like, they're dreaming of having man escape the planet when people thought like, oh, rockets can't even work in space.

[173] There's no air.

[174] So there's no vacuums.

[175] There's no way to propel yourself.

[176] Right.

[177] So just like he was very into early sci -fi.

[178] And in terms of history, Clifton's cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles.

[179] And I don't know if it was 30s, 40s, I guess then it was.

[180] It was like Isaac Asimov and just a cross -section of all the most famous early sci -fi writers.

[181] I think that's where he also ended up crossing paths with Elron.

[182] And so you, have you listened to the podcast, Monica, what is it about the Black Dahlia Murder?

[183] Oh, no. You haven't?

[184] What is it?

[185] Root of Evil.

[186] Adam, listen.

[187] When you're done here, or maybe even leave this interview right now and listen to it because it coincides so perfectly with all that stuff, which is this guy who ironically lived four doors down from where we're currently at in the Mayan house.

[188] Do you know that house?

[189] Have you ever been to it on Franklin?

[190] I haven't been to it, but is it like a Lloyd Wright house?

[191] Yeah, I think it's his son designed it.

[192] So this guy owned it and he was the head of the STD program for L .A. County Health.

[193] And so he was in this crazy position where he knew info about all kinds of the city's leaders who had gonorrhea, who had this and that.

[194] He was a doctor with very questionable morals and he became obsessed with surrealism, which kind of overlaps nicely with all that occult stuff of the same time period.

[195] And he ended up killing this woman and positioning her body in a manner that was later found out to be an exact replica of an image in one of his favorite surrealism.

[196] paintings.

[197] And he was trying to show these surrealist painters that he worshipped, that he was even next level, that he would do this in real life.

[198] But same kind of crazy fun L .A. history.

[199] Is that the Black Dahlia one you're talking about?

[200] That is the, oh, wow.

[201] Yeah.

[202] They know now who he was.

[203] And he was this doctor who had this bizarre motivation of being recognized as a surrealist artist.

[204] And again, the history, the Frank Lloyd Wright of it.

[205] Let me pitch.

[206] All right.

[207] Let me just follow that one thing.

[208] My Dark Place is the James Elroy book where he's trying to solve his own mother's murder.

[209] She was killed in the 50s very much like the Black Della.

[210] She was strangled in her car, something horrible, and he has this weird relationship with women.

[211] It's one of two nonfiction books he's written.

[212] The other one is more recently about the same stuff.

[213] But he teams up with a cop.

[214] He's in the 90s.

[215] He teams up with a retired detective and tries to solve his mother's murder that really got him fascinated with the Black Dahlia.

[216] And it's really good.

[217] Wait, this is the same story.

[218] This is identical because this, in real life, a very decorated L .A. detective was the son of the Black Dahlia murderer.

[219] And he kind of heard this rumor.

[220] And he set out to exonerate his father and then kind of discovered, no, there's no exoneration to be done here.

[221] He did do it.

[222] So that's, wow.

[223] What's it called again?

[224] Root of Evil.

[225] Root of Evil.

[226] Cool.

[227] I'll check it out.

[228] Coming to TBS starring me. It gets gnarly dark.

[229] Okay, so this is great because what immediately is exposed about you in this 10 minutes of talking to you is you're super smart.

[230] You can retain, I would say, on an encyclopedic level, details and facts.

[231] No, no, no, but it begs the question, which is what I had when I knew I was going to talk to you is you were a shitty student, right?

[232] So you grew up in San Diego and you kind of were a crappy student.

[233] And having read that about you and then knowing you personally, I have to imagine, did you ever.

[234] a learning disability like myself?

[235] No, I think I was just very wildly uninspired and I don't want to blame like the schools I went to exactly, but I just kind of sat in the back of the class.

[236] I surfed a lot in high school like before school, so I literally slept through a lot of, you know, I can sleep pretty well, like pretty quickly.

[237] I can power down.

[238] I could fully fall asleep with my head up in my hands on the desk.

[239] And so yeah, I mean, for whatever reason, it just didn't click with me. I mean no disrespect.

[240] I can remember like one teacher's name in my entire through high school.

[241] Most people can name a lot of their teachers and it just, it didn't have an impact on me. How about ADHD?

[242] Do you have any ADHD qualities?

[243] Well, I don't know the total definition of that, but certainly a little OCD tendencies.

[244] I'm a huge fidgeter.

[245] Uh -huh.

[246] You know, I'll find myself fingering the remote for no reason in a pattern, you know.

[247] Yes, yes.

[248] I find myself, you know, we have a. A baby now.

[249] We have an older daughter too.

[250] And I'll be holding him and I'll be bouncing him.

[251] And she'll go like, you don't need to bounce.

[252] I'm like, this is for me. I need to bounce him.

[253] Let me. Let me work it out.

[254] This isn't for him.

[255] Oh, that's really funny.

[256] So I do a weird pattern thing on my fingers.

[257] So I go pinkie ring, middle index and then back down.

[258] And I have to double click on either book end of that.

[259] And that's just kind of a weird thing.

[260] Do you do any kind of repetitive hand stuff?

[261] In the car for some reason.

[262] And again, Leighton always makes fun of me. Two things I do.

[263] One, one's not OCD, but anyways, in the car, I'll want to change the rear view mirror a little bit.

[264] It's always not perfect and I want it a little better.

[265] But if I move it, like with my whole hand, it's going to overcorrect.

[266] So I just tap it with the finger.

[267] I just give it a time.

[268] Oh, wow.

[269] Wow, what a system.

[270] Yeah, to do some little imperceptible shift.

[271] And I won't even be thinking.

[272] It's not premeditated.

[273] I'm not even really conscious I'm doing it.

[274] Sure, sure.

[275] And then this isn't quite OCD, but I talk to myself a lot.

[276] I just have conversations, past conversations.

[277] I'm going to walk around later today and talk to you about this conversation.

[278] You know, either things I said or could have said, and I'll get caught a lot.

[279] And, you know, mostly it's under my breath, but it's still, I'm mouthing it.

[280] And she'll catch me. And literally, who you're talking to?

[281] And the most embarrassing, but it's still a joke around our house.

[282] This is years ago.

[283] She's like, who are you talking?

[284] I'm like, I'd rather not.

[285] She's like, just tell me, who are you talking now?

[286] It's like, I was calling me to horse.

[287] Don't ask me how I got there, but I was talking to a horse.

[288] And now my daughter knows, Layton catches me on it.

[289] So now she thinks it's fun to bust me on it.

[290] Because who are you talking to?

[291] Isn't it wonderful how quickly your daughter becomes your second wife?

[292] I was just in Michigan.

[293] And somehow my daughter overheard me telling my wife that I had gone to four cider mills and ate 28 donuts with my friend Aaron.

[294] I only ate 14.

[295] And then also I was vaping because why the fuck not?

[296] I'm in Michigan.

[297] And so my daughter busted me on both those things.

[298] And I got probably nine Marco Polos within two hours.

[299] Daddy, you cannot eat like that.

[300] You know, that's not how you eat.

[301] And I see that you have that green thing.

[302] And you're supposed to not vape.

[303] You told me you weren't going to vape when you were there.

[304] So just getting blasted.

[305] And I'm like, great.

[306] Now there's two co -pilots.

[307] And Delta's probably about to be old enough to be a third.

[308] I love it so far anyway.

[309] Last dosey thing I do, I, you know, you can see me on a video and I have a beard now and it's just a gift to my fingers and I'll be in it all day.

[310] I have a lot of hair touching as well.

[311] Monica's very compulsive in her thinking.

[312] Obsessive compulsive.

[313] I guess maybe right.

[314] Obsessive is the operative word.

[315] More obsessive than compulsive, I would say.

[316] Let's see, though.

[317] I'm trying to think if I can think of some compulsive stuff.

[318] Like, will you pick your face or anything?

[319] You know you shouldn't be, but you just keep at it.

[320] That's just human.

[321] Okay, that's just human.

[322] All right.

[323] So she has human levels of compulsion.

[324] Also, you're a drummer, which I discovered today, which I don't think I knew previously.

[325] And I, too, I'm a drummer.

[326] I'm a very average drummer.

[327] Me too.

[328] I even saying, I play the drums, but being a drummer is definitely a misnomer.

[329] I would never claim to be a drummer.

[330] Oh, you might like this.

[331] I one time, I don't know why this came up, but Chris and I were, oh, we were watching the last Nolan movie, Christopher Nolan movie, Dunkirk, right?

[332] And I said, and just in the middle of the movie, I leaned over to her.

[333] And I said, do you know, if Christopher Nolan and I went on a news show in Detroit, they might introduce both of us as directors.

[334] And that would just not be, it would be so incomplete and so offensive to him.

[335] Well, it's kind of like an actor, you know, on one hand, you grapple with like, am I an artist?

[336] I mean, I do make creative choices for a living.

[337] But where does that line stop?

[338] Because I can think of some actors I wouldn't necessarily classify as artists.

[339] and then some I definitely would.

[340] Yeah.

[341] Are all actors artists?

[342] I've always wrestled with ever calling myself an artist.

[343] I don't think I'm in that category.

[344] I'm more like a blue collar kind of get it done.

[345] Yeah, I guess I would say more of an entertainer myself.

[346] I mean, if I had to.

[347] I can live with that for sure.

[348] Okay, so you grew up in San Diego and dad was an attorney and mom was a graphic designer.

[349] What type of attorney was dad?

[350] Good old dad.

[351] He worked for Security Pacific, a bank, and then he was just a court.

[352] He was like a litigator, never.

[353] trial, never, you know.

[354] I got to preface this all by like, my parents are for sure going to listen to this.

[355] Okay, great.

[356] There's that color on top of it.

[357] So, hi.

[358] Hi, guys.

[359] Let's start with saying how much you love them.

[360] You just love them, right?

[361] I love them to pieces, as we'll be evidenced by this tribute.

[362] I'm about to pay.

[363] My dad then was a general counsel for like a community college.

[364] I don't think I'm talking out of turn when I say never seem to love it.

[365] Let's just be fair.

[366] and say, I've known dozens of lawyers, they all hate that job.

[367] Every lawyer, in fact, I did a movie one time with a comedian who had been a, oh, what do they call it, trademark attorney, like, it doesn't matter.

[368] He had been an attorney and then quit and became a stand -up, and then I was in a movie with him, and I said, wow, and I was broke at the time, and it was my first thing I'd been in, and I was like, I can't believe you quit being a lawyer.

[369] And he goes, you know what's funny, every lawyer who I tell I quit and became a stand -up, not one has ever asked, why did you do that?

[370] But every layperson does.

[371] Right, right.

[372] Right, right.

[373] It's a hard time suck of a job.

[374] Yeah, you know, I don't know.

[375] I think there's clearly so many different avenues and branches of it, you know, and I think he was in a particularly dry corporate kind of middle the road branch.

[376] And I think he even, you know, if I have my history correct, it's been 20 years since we've talked about it, but I think he did it to avoid the draft.

[377] Okay, sure, sure.

[378] You know, I went to, went to law school to be a good Jewish boy, A, but also to avoid the draft.

[379] So that's what he did.

[380] but what I took from it a little was I don't think I want to do it.

[381] And inadvertently, I kind of rebelled against it because it didn't seem appealing.

[382] It wasn't sexy enough for you.

[383] No. Did he have a point of view of like, yeah, I played it safe.

[384] Why don't you go crazy?

[385] Or did he very much have the same fears for you?

[386] No, he had a very much like old -fashioned.

[387] Understandably, I mean, I wasn't a kid actor.

[388] Just like, just get good grades.

[389] I'll leave you alone if you just get good grades.

[390] And I'm just like, I can't do it.

[391] Yeah.

[392] You know, we had a pretty contentious relationship through high school.

[393] And then I decided to be an actor like at the spur of a moment.

[394] I was just like, I'm going to try this thing when I was 18.

[395] I was like, I'm going to move up to L .A. for a year.

[396] Just try this thing with a friend.

[397] I'll be back.

[398] He was scratching his head.

[399] He wasn't super pissed, but definitely a...

[400] It didn't seem like a well -laid plan.

[401] No. And it had every reason to be skeptical.

[402] And then I actually found success pretty fast.

[403] Like, remarkably fast.

[404] At least as I defined success at that time.

[405] And then he was my biggest chance.

[406] champion right away.

[407] And as he said to me since, I learned a lot.

[408] I learned that there's many unconventional ways.

[409] I have two younger brothers.

[410] And I think both my parents have been much more supportive of their journeys, whatever they may be because of it.

[411] Well, now that you have kids, you immediately see how differently you raise the second from the first.

[412] Like the first, it's a thousand percent of your attention and energy at all times.

[413] And then when the second one comes, that's not available because there's already a first one.

[414] So it's like you quickly realize this birth order thing and you being the oldest.

[415] Yeah.

[416] Yeah.

[417] Of course they were the most worried about you.

[418] Yeah.

[419] Yeah.

[420] Yeah.

[421] And yet the second one seems happier.

[422] I don't know if that's universal.

[423] I'm a second one.

[424] Well, I don't even mean me. I mean even my kids.

[425] I mean, both my kids are very happy.

[426] But it's like, you know, the baby comes out like the second one going like, I'm just happy to be here.

[427] Yeah.

[428] It seems.

[429] I know you're busy.

[430] I'm just watching.

[431] Yeah.

[432] Did dad go to U of M law school?

[433] Yeah.

[434] So very smart guy.

[435] And then did mom go?

[436] Did they meet in college?

[437] My mom went to Michigan State.

[438] My mom was 16.

[439] My dad was 19.

[440] I guess they got together and broke up every year for like, they got together in summer because he would come home for summer and then break up for the year.

[441] And then a short three years later, they got married.

[442] And then all of their friends, like their best friends, just coincidentally, all moved west to San Diego or L .A. or San Francisco, but weirdly, mostly San Diego, not planned.

[443] Just organic exodus.

[444] That is interesting.

[445] So it sounds like you and I have a similar thing as well, which is like I'll be in interviews with co -stars, right?

[446] And they'll say like, when did you know you wanted to be an actor?

[447] And generally the people we act with are like eight, nine, ten.

[448] I always, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[449] It was confused by that answer solely because I'm from Detroit and I'd never met a working actor.

[450] So I'm just like, how would you even think that was possible?

[451] But aside from that, so I had a certain arrogance and I don't know how to explain it, which is like I did not want to be an actor, yet I constantly practiced being interviewed by David Letterman in my mirror.

[452] So did you have any level of like self -importance like I did?

[453] Like, of course I'll go to L .A. and give that a shot.

[454] I didn't.

[455] I mean, it's funny.

[456] I can, there's a brief period in like sixth grade where I flirted with it.

[457] Like, it was kind of seeing kids my age do it.

[458] Seeing McCauley Colkin made me go like, oh.

[459] And it was between like the slapstick, and it's funny because I think almost tonally, it's maybe a little where I ended up, but like the slapstick of McCauley Culkin and the like James Deanness of River Phoenix.

[460] And I was like, oh, I'm attracted to both of those.

[461] Yeah.

[462] It seems really cool.

[463] And I asked my parents, and this was at the time when I thought like, it was conventional wisdom.

[464] And like, if you want to be a professional actor, you start modeling in JCPenney catalogs.

[465] And you go out in there or whatever.

[466] And I said like, oh, I kind of want to try acting how could i do that and they said well you know we work full time we can't drive up to out drive you up to l a day for auditions but you should do a play or something and i said okay and so i signed up for like my suburban community theater to be an inherit the wind and it was an adult play and i just played the newspaper boy and i think i went to a bunch of rehearsals for like two lines yeah and i don't remember the performance i just remember like going this is a lot of work and i don't do anything and I just put it out of my mind and never even, like, flirted with it as a possibility for the next six years of my life.

[467] And on a whim, I had a, like, a roommate surf buddy when we were 18, and I was, I was so aimless.

[468] I blew off a state school I got into, and I was like, I just want to do community college because I just want to take two courses and just do it real slow.

[469] And, like, I don't know.

[470] I don't know what I want to be.

[471] And I'll have all this time to surf, and it'll be great.

[472] And then I was so, it was so anticlimactic.

[473] and I was so bored by that by September.

[474] And I was working at Blockbuster at the time.

[475] So I was getting more influence again by movie.

[476] I was, you know, had more of a focus on movies.

[477] And my friend who was older, like three years older than me, had a former San Diego surfriend who had moved up to L .A. with his parents.

[478] And he had done the time, which seemed like wild success in acting.

[479] I mean, the top of the credits are a guest star, bad guy on the Power Rangers.

[480] But it was like, you know, we had such low ambition.

[481] I'm kind of proud of that blue collar aspect of like...

[482] Me too.

[483] I wasn't about the work.

[484] You know, I auditioned very early on for Blues Clues when it was coming out.

[485] And it was like, this was amazing, amazing if I could be this guy.

[486] Did you do it?

[487] Hold on.

[488] Hold on.

[489] Hold on.

[490] Hold on.

[491] Hold on.

[492] So I basically got the role to replace whoever the original blues clues guy.

[493] I can't remember if he aged out or he had a scandal.

[494] I can't remember.

[495] Yeah, they replaced him And I was gonna get blues clue Can you pronounce it Right when I got punked I mean like if the timing had gone Even like a week different I would have been on blues clues Yeah and stoked right I just wanted to see myself on TV I got I got interviewed one time in Traverse City On the news at the cherry seed spitting contest Because I had won and that to me was so exhilarating So if I could have just repeated that Like saw myself on TV It would have been pumped And then, yes, the notion of making money to do that after 10 years of me in an L .A., yeah, I wasn't, like, bummed to get the Blues Clues job.

[496] It just luck had it that I got punked at the same time.

[497] Yeah, amazing.

[498] Yeah.

[499] We went, we did an exploratory visit.

[500] We're like, let's go up to stay with him for our friend and his mom for a day, two nights, and we'll just see if L .A. is for us.

[501] And then we'll come back in a month and grab an apartment and just, I don't know, dive in, go to a class or whatever.

[502] And I'm 19.

[503] And this is 1998, nine, 98.

[504] And so you would have all your VHSs from the student films that you audition for in the backstage west to build your reel, to get, you know, to get an agent and stuff.

[505] Do you ever go to someone's weird apartment to like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[506] And so, yeah, he showed us.

[507] We did a little tape viewing, like, he lived in Marina del Rey and like, I just remember watching the tapes.

[508] I remember the two are, his guest star in the Power Rangers, and then this black and white student film where he's a kid.

[509] getting anally raped by his dad and he's still thinking this is the coolest thing I've ever seen and I would die to be anally raped on film to have this forever and then I remember and then he took us up to the sunset strip and we're going up to sunset strip and we see like John Popper from Blues Traveler just walking up the street on our right and then we go to the coffee bean get my first ice blend and we're like soul this is so 98 man You just seen it's such a picture for me. Also, like Swingers is out around that time, right?

[510] Swingers is one of the most influential movies in my life for a lot of reasons.

[511] Something about going, oh, that's kind of my life.

[512] I go to these parties in the hill.

[513] You can't find parking.

[514] I just felt like, oh, even though I'm failing at this acting thing, that's pretty cool.

[515] I'm immersed in this world.

[516] Well, quick Swinger story.

[517] So when I was working at Blockbuster, I saw it.

[518] And it didn't even register with me. I think I was like, oh, that's cool.

[519] And it didn't land with me at all.

[520] I move up to L .A. And like I said, I did have some success pretty early, but I was still, I was like 19, 20.

[521] I didn't know anyone.

[522] It took me like three years to really meet some friends and, and be working consistently where I was like kind of busy, not mostly hanging out of the Beverly Center by myself.

[523] And I rediscovered swingers.

[524] And I was like feeling like this is a very unglamorous and kind of sad life I'm living, lonely, particularly.

[525] Oh, yeah, yeah.

[526] And went like, oh, my God, this is the most glamorous, coolest thing you can do.

[527] I watched it a thousand times I know all these spots and I'm going to go to all these spots more.

[528] Vince Vaughn became my like acting idol for the next five years.

[529] I just try.

[530] I'm like I'm just going to copy him as much as possible.

[531] I literally did the OC mostly because Doug Lyman directed the pilot.

[532] Uh -huh.

[533] Sure.

[534] And I was like, oh, he's my favorite.

[535] Yeah, this is going to have some edge.

[536] Yeah.

[537] So that influenced me a lot.

[538] Stay tuned for more armchair expert.

[539] If you dare.

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[557] Yeah, so you start working a bunch and you're on Gilmore Girls as a love interest, and that's a big thing, right?

[558] You're on a hit show that you can tune in and watch.

[559] That's got to be one of the first kind of really fun things.

[560] Honestly, I'd had some fun before.

[561] One of the most fun things I did earlier than that, it was an MTV show that we did 13 episodes of in like three months, but somehow because of their weird contracts, I was on for two and a half years.

[562] And it came out of, really, the OC was the first time I got free that pilot season to do like a pilot season.

[563] I had the same contract on Punk.

[564] Right, I bet, yeah.

[565] Yeah.

[566] And I've aged out of it.

[567] So the teen stuff isn't on my radar now.

[568] And I know they make a lot of it.

[569] But I still have to imagine the early 2000s and the late 90s were the golden era of like teen movies and shows and everything.

[570] And so it felt like I got scooped up into that world pretty fast.

[571] And even by the time I did Gilmore Girls, I've been like, I've been doing this for three years and like a bunch of teen stuff.

[572] Anyways, that MTV show was just a full on American Pie, the series.

[573] But I was, you know, one of of the leads on it and it was a blast.

[574] So I felt like a veteran, weirdly, of, of team television by then, you know?

[575] Yeah.

[576] Yeah, that totally makes sense.

[577] You did growing up Brady, which I only bring it up, because weirdly, we just interviewed Kaylee Cuoco yesterday.

[578] It was also in that.

[579] Do you remember being in that with her?

[580] I sure do, yeah.

[581] That was my, I'll never have a job that felt like as much of a leap forward as that job.

[582] I moved LA like two weeks before my 19th birthday.

[583] No acting experience, no agent in anything.

[584] And I celebrated my 20th birthday on the set of the Paramount lot being the lead of this like NBC TV movie, you know, that probably had a $5 million budget or something.

[585] I don't know.

[586] It was like, had a big crew.

[587] And yeah, I got that.

[588] It's not that anything changed for me. Were you number one on the call sheet?

[589] Yes.

[590] Oh, oh my God.

[591] Yeah.

[592] That's crazy.

[593] Yeah.

[594] I was like, it was kind of the saddest thing ever.

[595] I mean, I so remember driving through the gates of the Paramount lot every day for four weeks going, is this real?

[596] And then it ended.

[597] And I didn't know any.

[598] It was so sad because I was like, I don't know if I'll ever work again.

[599] And I don't, I made friends there.

[600] And now I don't know.

[601] And back to like knowing nobody.

[602] And but she was 14 when we did that.

[603] And I was 19.

[604] Even though, even though we're love interest in it and it's like far too sexual for a, for a 14 year.

[605] Sure, sure.

[606] Today it wouldn't be made the same way.

[607] No, it wouldn't.

[608] No, and I don't think the camera would linger in quite the same way.

[609] They'd be out a little quicker.

[610] But it was a good experience at the time.

[611] I was curious because you clearly must have read Barry, who was Mike Brady.

[612] Was that the oldest?

[613] No. Barry Williams was Greg.

[614] Oh, okay.

[615] Maybe Mike was the dad.

[616] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[617] Okay, so Greg Brady wrote the book, who's Barry.

[618] Yeah.

[619] Isn't the history of that show a little bit bonkers?

[620] Like, did Greg make love to the mom?

[621] No, as he tells it.

[622] And I don't know how he, if it's, if he's embelly.

[623] or sanitizing.

[624] But, you know, he was in love with Maureen, the oldest sister, the whole actress, kind of off and on the whole time.

[625] She kind of play him hot and cold.

[626] They had a romance.

[627] They kissed.

[628] But then she maybe broke his heart a little.

[629] And the mom feeling sorry for him, if I remember correctly, took him out on a pity date and gave him a very sweet kiss on the cheek, you know, somewhat romantic.

[630] Okay.

[631] So not, not coytus.

[632] No, okay.

[633] No, but I don't know.

[634] Yeah.

[635] Okay, so let's talk about the O .C. for a minute because knowing you and all these conversations we've had, generally just so people can know, this is what you and I talk about, I think, from my perspective.

[636] I clearly remember one, like, sitting on a stoop in downtown L .A. Just going through, like, the decision -making process when you're an actor and, like, kind of evaluating opportunities and trying to stay on some trajectory and then maybe overthinking it and sometimes underthinking it and just kind of the stress.

[637] of that.

[638] And what I gleaned immediately from you is that you're just very mindful.

[639] So, and maybe by your own admission, maybe sometimes too mindful, like too concerned about what this thing's building up to as opposed to like, I don't know, just doing shit sometimes.

[640] Is that a good summation of our?

[641] Yeah, very much.

[642] I mean, you know, we're talking about it every day of like, well, I mean, you know, you got to assess every opportunity that comes your way and goes like, what's it for me in the moment practically?

[643] But also, how does it get me to the next thing or get me closer farther away from that, whatever that is.

[644] And I'm mostly the same guy and have the same mindset that I had 20 years ago when I started, but I, I've loosened up to be sure.

[645] There's a lot of different motivations, right?

[646] One is like you don't want to take yourself out.

[647] Like you just want some sustainability and some longevity.

[648] I would say the biggest thing I've learned over this is that that's the worst thing you can do.

[649] You know, a few actors besides Daniel DeLewis can afford to be like, I'm out for 10 years.

[650] I'll be back.

[651] you'll want me. It's an even more coveted because I've been gone.

[652] Almost everyone else except the select brilliant few, like need to stay visible.

[653] And I kind of thought like, well, if you have a spotless record, then you just, you're still pitching a no hitter or whatever, you know, and it's like not the case.

[654] It's just impossible to navigate in that you're forced to look at other people's trajectory.

[655] And maybe to kind of map on your skill set to theirs and think, well, they did it this way.

[656] So maybe I should do it that way.

[657] And really, none of it's all that applicable, but it feels like it.

[658] You have nothing else to kind of base these decisions on other than like, well, who do I admire and what did they do?

[659] Yeah, yeah, very much.

[660] It's weird.

[661] It all works out.

[662] You know, it's like most of the things you do, you don't regret.

[663] And most of the things you didn't do, you don't regret.

[664] Yeah, or, as I say often, the things that went exactly as I had hoped didn't bear the fruit that I was certain it would.

[665] Yeah.

[666] And then a lot of the things I was reluctant to do, say, parenthood, turns out to be probably the best thing for sustaining me. So I guess I'm wrong.

[667] I found out more often than that that I'm wrong when I get my way.

[668] Well, I mean, I didn't have a lot of wiggle room with the O .C. That was when I had a lot of maybe the most like, hey, they're going to offer you some studio stuff.

[669] But we filmed that show like nine and a half months a year.

[670] So for starters, it was like, I can do one thing in this one window if it shoots in that window and it's small enough.

[671] So even though I had all this capital or heat or whatever, it was very hard.

[672] to spend it, number one.

[673] And number two, as much as I liked that show creatively, I knew as a teen show, I was 23 when I started somewhat reluctantly to go back to high school for like, because the cool thing to do is to be an adult, you know?

[674] Yeah.

[675] And so I was like, if I'm doing this in the day, I want to be very careful and make sure that whatever else I do differentiates and I can live or die with it.

[676] And it's just, you know, it speaks for me a million percent.

[677] And there's a few opportunities.

[678] Nothing I regret too much, but I was probably a little too precious, you know?

[679] And now it's literally liberating to have a family and go, I need to make money.

[680] And now I can just do stuff for money.

[681] Because the truth is, I don't want to put bad stuff out in the world.

[682] I want to make sure that like what I'm doing has, if any, effect, a positive one besides entertainment, but even just, you know, they're all stories are messages to coded messages too.

[683] And I want them to be good ones, but like, I can separate what I love as an artist, if you will, or what the art I love from, like, what I'm going to go do.

[684] I can have fun and crap.

[685] I think that lesson you can also learn at times, I've overthought stuff, and I'm like, oh, I don't want to be on that show.

[686] I don't like that show, right?

[687] I've worked on a show I didn't like.

[688] But then I had to remind myself, well, the people that watch the show love the show.

[689] So I guess my fear of, like, people who have my taste will see me in this thing that is not my taste.

[690] Well, guess what?

[691] They're not going to see you because they're not fans of that show.

[692] So that's a weird aspect of it, too.

[693] There is a very real thing, though.

[694] That said, and my wife and I talk about all the time, there's a very real thing of like, there is a cool club.

[695] Oh, yeah.

[696] And I've never felt, I've dipped my pinky in it, kind of, but like I felt always on the outs.

[697] You want to fight and be there if you can, but at the same time, you got to go to work.

[698] And like I said, visibility is better than non -visibility.

[699] And it's fun.

[700] You make a great living.

[701] like you won the lottery.

[702] I mean, all this said, like, not a day goes by that I don't audibly say how lucky we are.

[703] And I can't believe we won the lottery of getting to do this for a living and play for a living.

[704] Well, that's why I wanted to have this conversation before we talked about the OC, because I would never want someone to interpret anything we're going to talk about as a lack of gratitude.

[705] Because that's not really it.

[706] It's, you can be horrendously grateful for the thing you have and also appropriately concerned that you might.

[707] You might, not get to do it ever again because of the gold cage you're in.

[708] So for you and I, I'm five years older than you.

[709] We grew up with 90210 .1.

[710] You couldn't be bigger.

[711] Like I would have cut off an arm to be on that show.

[712] And then we started working in an era where we realized like, I don't see those people much anymore.

[713] Like I loved them all and I didn't see them get to work a whole bunch or at least.

[714] Johnny Depp being the only exception.

[715] Right.

[716] Yeah, maybe the only one who like, and through again, a force of nature I don't have.

[717] I can't.

[718] Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.

[719] Sure.

[720] Fucking Jack Sparrow.

[721] I can't do that.

[722] So yeah, unless you're him, man. The data would suggest that it's a little dangerous to be on a show that gets such a huge youth following.

[723] And for you, I wonder, you've always been cute.

[724] Did people think you were as cute in high school as they did on that show?

[725] Was that a transition?

[726] I mean, because you really did become a teen idol, right?

[727] Like, L .A. Times called you TV's sexiest geek.

[728] I mean, that's such a unique experience.

[729] Yeah, no, I backdoored it into like hunked them, you know.

[730] Hunked them.

[731] No, I didn't.

[732] I didn't, you know, I like, I mean, I have some, I have plenty of vanity, you know, and I really do.

[733] I mean, this is an embarrassing thing, but like, I've always been able to stare in a mirror for a long time.

[734] Like, even as a very young kid, like I remember.

[735] just like, I'll be in the bathroom for an hour.

[736] I'll see you guys later.

[737] Taking it in.

[738] So that's weird, but it wasn't necessarily awe at my beauty.

[739] It was just fascinated by like my face.

[740] Yeah, yeah.

[741] I wasn't thinking any bigger than like, okay, you've got Ryan Philippine.

[742] I know you did last summer on one hand.

[743] He's like, your honk.

[744] And then you got Jason Biggs doing the comedy and American Pie.

[745] Like, I gladly do either of those.

[746] And they're both goals.

[747] But I wasn't dead set on being.

[748] Skeed Allridge.

[749] Yeah, yeah.

[750] at all.

[751] And then even the OC, like, I had no vanity about it.

[752] I mean, he was the dweeb.

[753] And I was like, great.

[754] And I think I can make this loose and I'll have a fun time with it.

[755] And it'll be whatever it is.

[756] I don't know.

[757] We'll see where it goes.

[758] But I was, I had no problem playing the bottom, if you will.

[759] Well, here's my really only question about that is you often can know things intellectually, right?

[760] Like, so you clearly knew intellectually that you were maybe a teen idol.

[761] But was Is there any experiential aspect of that?

[762] Because probably not, right?

[763] You're just living in L .A. And you're going to work and you're in your bubble.

[764] You're not - Such a bubble at that time, you know, 2003 that came out, pre -social media.

[765] We're filming in Manhattan Beach, which might as well be another planet.

[766] You know, the stages down there are off on their own.

[767] I was dating my co -star.

[768] We were only hanging out with like people on her friends, my friends of people and the bubble around the show.

[769] And I mean, literally my agent at the time, still my agent, Kevin, married our costume who is now Nicole, who is now Kristen's, does her styling.

[770] So it was a fully contained ecosystem.

[771] And so I did a few things for voting.

[772] You know, we do a few for the couple of elections that came around then.

[773] And so I did some college stuff.

[774] I was in a band for a minute.

[775] We went on, did like one little summer tour and could draw a crowd just based on the show, obviously.

[776] And so I was familiar with it, but I never felt so inundated like, oh, this is like the Beatles or I can't get a break.

[777] I don't even remember, like, really being hounded by photographers or anything.

[778] It all seemed to be a little removed.

[779] Yeah.

[780] The one thing, it wasn't teen idoldom, but I did have some opportunity very little, but I wasn't ready for at the time.

[781] I'm pretty new to movies.

[782] I'm new to, like, I'm new to reading books.

[783] And, like, I'm in a room alone with Dustin Hoffman on a general.

[784] Like, what do I have to offer?

[785] And things like that, where I'm like, well, no, I still wouldn't blow him away, but at least I could, like, come up with an idea or something.

[786] and I'd have something to say to the guy.

[787] Okay.

[788] This is another incredible parallel.

[789] I, too, way before I deserve to be, I was attached to a movie with Dustin Hoffman.

[790] And so what it amounted to is me meeting him at the Coral Tree Cafe.

[791] That's where I met him.

[792] Oh, that's his favorite restaurant.

[793] Yeah, meeting him there and having breakfast.

[794] And I think I still smoked then.

[795] He was like telling me how I could quit smoking.

[796] I got along great with him.

[797] And then Sean Levy came on to potentially direct this thing.

[798] And there was a moment where Sean said, let's have a read through of the script, like a table read.

[799] Great.

[800] So I go there.

[801] And at the end of the table read, we go into Dustin's office.

[802] And Sean's like, look, this script isn't there, which I don't even have a barometer for.

[803] I don't know if that thing went good or bad or whatever.

[804] But he and Dustin seem to know that we are attached to a stinker.

[805] So the meeting then transitions into Sean.

[806] John saying that moment in Rain Man, when you touch foreheads with Tom Cruise, was that in the script or was that improvised?

[807] And Dustin starts recreating the scene and I'm seated next to him on the couch and now I'm in the role of Tom Cruise and before I know it, I'm like just leaning forward and I'm touching heads with Dustin Hoffman.

[808] And I just remember having like seen the whole scene from far above my head.

[809] thinking, how the fuck am I on a couch reenacting this scene in Los Angeles?

[810] I mean, who cares if that movie ever got made?

[811] I just remember leaving there going like, yeah, I guess the movie's not going to happen, but holy shit, I just reenacted a scene.

[812] Oh, that's great.

[813] And every time I do that and I have that out of body experience, I'm also like, shit, you're offering nothing right now.

[814] You're the most uninteresting fucking person ever.

[815] Tom Cruise is talking to you.

[816] Say something.

[817] It's interesting.

[818] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[819] Okay, so, but you had to do.

[820] been getting offered at that time leading roles in probably like coming of age youth rom -coms or kind of party movies you had to have turned down a slew of like leading roles and instead opted to be like in mr and mrs smith well that was a no -brainer that's doug lyman again he called and said you want to be in it i was like yes uh -huh and then another surreal moment was you know so i did that movie with just like brad and angelina and me in a box in a big stage like empty stage where like They have the kind of money where they're like, let's just talk about this for six hours.

[821] And then it's, you know.

[822] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[823] Can you imagine?

[824] And then we went, Doug, Lyman, flew.

[825] They called me and were like, would you, like to fly you and Vince Vaughn to like a test screening in Long Beach in his little prop plane.

[826] Can you meet at Santa Monica Airport?

[827] I'm like, yeah.

[828] And so did that.

[829] Oh, wow.

[830] Again, no fun pinch me moment.

[831] Oh, wow.

[832] Here I am on an airplane with Vince Vaughn, this guy worshiped.

[833] Yeah.

[834] I mean, ordinarily, I'd be scared to die, but I was like, can't happen.

[835] And then when I saw you and thank you for smoking, I was like, oh, I think I like this guy.

[836] He's taking his capital, and this is the choice he's making.

[837] I remember just being intrigued by that, for whatever that's worth.

[838] That's nice.

[839] And you didn't have an adverse reaction, let me ask you, to me and the O .C. Bean, because I know some very funny actor friends who I've since become friends with and like me very much.

[840] I went in there with, I didn't have an improv background.

[841] I wasn't improvving up a storm.

[842] It was very easy to take a melodrama and puncture it with some humor.

[843] Very easy.

[844] The sarcasm here goes a long way when everyone's serious.

[845] But then, like, word got around that, like, this kid's hilarious.

[846] You know, this kid's, Mr. Improfts coming in here and is just a comedian.

[847] And I know some of my friends before they knew me kind of chafed at that, rightly so.

[848] And did you have that reaction?

[849] I can tell you.

[850] the only reason I didn't was that that was, was that 2006?

[851] It's like 2003 to 2007.

[852] So that was when I was getting all my opportunities.

[853] So I was like the lead of let's go to prison at the time.

[854] I had just done idiocry.

[855] I was about to do employee the month.

[856] I felt so filled up.

[857] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[858] But had I thought I missed the opportunity because the guy from the O .C got to do it and I'm of groundling, what the fuck?

[859] Yeah, it would have drove me crazy.

[860] But I was feeling myself, so I wasn't so threatened.

[861] I'm sure if it had come out like three years later in my lull, I would have been like, what is happening?

[862] Why does this guy?

[863] Okay, but we just have to talk about one other role of yours before your movie, which is House of Lies.

[864] Well, let me just set up that House of Lies was a show on Showtime that had Don Sheetle and my wife, Kristen, they were the leads of that show.

[865] And then so it hit me with your experience on that show.

[866] Well, I played the funny character.

[867] I played an air and new boss of like a Dildo Fortune, the biggest dildo company and we filmed at a real dildo factory which was a trip.

[868] Yeah, they sent everyone home with a bunch of dildos, all right?

[869] I mean, not me, but...

[870] Kristen came home with like a gift bag.

[871] But we had, if I can talk about our love scene.

[872] That's exactly what I hope you'll talk about.

[873] So, this is with your first daughter.

[874] Kristen is like, like eight months pregnant, you know?

[875] I think later.

[876] How late did she go on working?

[877] I think she was nine months pregnant.

[878] I mean, yeah, about as pregnant as you can be.

[879] and we have a sex scene where we like break up during and you know she's on she's on top of me the only way you can be and it was pretty weird because like your child is on my stomach i mean very truly like on my stomach yeah they're like trying to shoot around the fact that she's a hundred months pregnant and then now you guys have this fucking scene when i first talked to you about it You said I described that as my only three -way on camera.

[880] There was three of us very much in that.

[881] It very much was, but I'll tell you the more awkward part, quite honestly.

[882] Didn't even involve your wife.

[883] So we shoot the close -ups, the three of us.

[884] And then for the wide shot, they bring out her like, I don't know, 21 -year -old standing.

[885] Body double, right?

[886] Yeah, yeah.

[887] Or maybe it wasn't her standing just a body double.

[888] And this other girl has pasties.

[889] has to sit on me. We're, like, trying to avoid eye contact, you know what I mean?

[890] As she's, like, very awkwardly, just slowly, kind of gyrating for the wide shot, and we're both like, hi, nice to meet you.

[891] Oh, my God.

[892] That was actually kind of brutal, for both of us.

[893] Oh, my God, I'm so glad you brought up that part of it, because, you know, when you have love scenes, it's awkward for everyone, but you at least go, well, my scene partner is very incentivized for this.

[894] She's in an awkward position, too, but then the reward is.

[895] she'll be in this scene, and hopefully it looks beautiful and blah, blah, blah, blah.

[896] There's almost no reward for the body double.

[897] So, like, you feel like this is a bad scenario.

[898] Yeah, well, also, like, you know, you have no rapport.

[899] You don't know them.

[900] They're not allowed to speak.

[901] Right.

[902] Like on camera, so it's like.

[903] Because they'd have to pay them just so people know then they'd have to bump them up to another bracket in the union.

[904] And also, it's just not Kristen's voice or whoever they're doing.

[905] It's not disrespect.

[906] It's just like, technically, we need you to be completely silent.

[907] Oh, you know, and also.

[908] Also, they're often not actors or certainly not the same caliber most of the time.

[909] It's just unfortunate.

[910] I mean, you know, I was a gentleman.

[911] I'm a gentleman, but I think of myself as one.

[912] But still, you know, it wasn't fun.

[913] Okay, okay, great.

[914] I just want to talk about Chips for a second from my perspective.

[915] As Monica said, you're probably the best thing in Chips.

[916] And this is a sincere compliment.

[917] It's not because you're here.

[918] And I think I've already told you this, but you're the funnest actor I've ever directed.

[919] Wow.

[920] And there was so many good people on hit and run.

[921] there were so many good people in chips.

[922] Isaiah Whitlock was really fun to direct as well.

[923] But aside from that, I had so much fun working with you because you were perfect at getting the written thing out.

[924] You would always be great in one or two takes.

[925] And then we had time on her hand.

[926] And then you and I together had this great rapport where I would scream kind of maybe what I would have improved in your situation.

[927] and then you would somehow immediately put that through your filter and then you would make it this other thing and every time I was elated like I was just watching it in a movie where I would get lost in watching you do your thing and it just would be fun it would be like if there was no time constraint I would have probably just had you do those scenes for five or six hours because it was so fun to watch well that's that's quite the compliment I was like please how like to make this as funny as it can be.

[928] I'll do anything you want to say.

[929] And I'm not always like that.

[930] I mean, I'm always down to try a joke unless I think it's like too crass or something.

[931] But in general, I'm not like, you know, I trust the director implicitly and just whatever you tell.

[932] You know, that's crazy.

[933] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[934] They're wrong sometimes.

[935] Yeah, yeah.

[936] Depends on the director.

[937] Depends what we're doing.

[938] Sometimes it's all about defense, you know?

[939] But no, man, I just wanted you to help me make it as funny as it could be.

[940] And it was a blast.

[941] I just really appreciate that.

[942] I remember at that time, because I thought I was very much on a trajectory where I would go on to direct 10 more movies.

[943] And I remember calling Kevin and just being like, I'm so in love with him.

[944] I want to do something where he and I get to fuck around like that for the bulk of the shoot.

[945] Well, don't write that trajectory off yet.

[946] Okay, okay, okay.

[947] Tell me about kid detective.

[948] First of all, I watched a trailer today.

[949] I have not seen the movie.

[950] It truly looks fucking awesome.

[951] It's the exact kind of role I want to see you in, which is like apathetic.

[952] I think you're a perfect candidate for apathy and then getting triggered to be re -engaged.

[953] So how did you come across this?

[954] You clearly were part of putting it together and getting it made.

[955] This was a lot of process.

[956] My good, good friend now didn't know him at the time approached me in like 2012 at Sundance.

[957] And it was like, hey, I got a movie down the street.

[958] And I really like, I don't want it.

[959] We should talk.

[960] And I'm like, okay.

[961] Anyways, I don't know why.

[962] I gave him my number.

[963] And then I checked out his movie that he was very involved with.

[964] He didn't direct it, per se, but kind of.

[965] This movie, The Dirties, he was a producer and a bit of a writer, and it was an editor and just has his fingerprints all over.

[966] And it's a special movie, and I saw it, and I was like, wow, that's, it's special.

[967] And it's, it's a found footage high school comedy that turns into a school shooting.

[968] Oh, wow.

[969] And it does it, and it does it well.

[970] So it's, like, very daring.

[971] It's very, it's very real while being funny and he's so talented.

[972] So then I met him a year later, out here, told me this idea.

[973] I liked it a lot.

[974] shared with me six months later the first act and he was like I don't know where it should go we talked about that a year later sent me the script it's amazing and then tweaked it a little but it was just like very meticulous and great Evan Morgan is his name and the writing is fan fucking tastic and so anyways that's why I try to get it's made for five years because he's so talented and the script is so good and the detective genre particularly is a very written genre you know it's a screenplay and so you can really appreciate it on the page and also his language without aping any of these and being very much his own thing.

[975] It's a very heightened stylized language a la Cohen brothers, Whit Stillman, Wes Anderson, you know.

[976] I was going to say, just based solely on the trailer, it felt very Wes Anderson adjacent to me. There's like some production design stuff.

[977] There's some specificity with the, when you were a kid detective.

[978] Like, yeah, there's a very West Anderson vibe.

[979] I pitch shit is like Rushmore meets Chinatown.

[980] Oh, yes.

[981] And it's not as stylized as well.

[982] Wes Anderson stuff, but it has that heightened reality, otherworldliness.

[983] And, you know, anyways, try to get it made for four years.

[984] You know what it's like trying to get a movie made when you're the star and it's like hard to get something green light.

[985] And the problem is there's a lot of other parts and none of them are for anyone like to be famous in.

[986] So it was in such a journey that I kind of thought, oh, it's not happening.

[987] Finally the money just came through telefilm, the Canadian, because it's a total, I'm the only American in the movie.

[988] So telefilm gave us some money.

[989] And then that that opened the door to get money from elsewhere.

[990] We got it made.

[991] I couldn't believe.

[992] It was so surreal to be on set going, I can't believe this movie's real because I've tried to get other things made.

[993] And this is the first one that was a long journey that actually happened.

[994] Also, like, it's funny, because I had four years to think about it.

[995] And then all of a sudden, we're going on a low budget in two weeks.

[996] And we're like, okay, what does he look like?

[997] Fuck, I don't know.

[998] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[999] And we still got to make all these huge creative decisions in like a minute.

[1000] It's been that way with this movie since we made it because we filmed it in October last year.

[1001] and then all the film festivals were canceled, basically.

[1002] So we got to do a long pre -production of editing and then music.

[1003] I've been on the phone with them, you know, this whole quarantine.

[1004] And then at the last second, it's such a weird zombie apocalypse release.

[1005] So find out, like, ideally we'd like to shop it around or, you know, see, we think we believe in it.

[1006] And we're informed that no, Sony has a first look deal and they're buying it.

[1007] And we have to take it and just be happy.

[1008] And we're like, well, what do they want to do with it?

[1009] We're like, and we hear like, well, we can't ask.

[1010] It's just theirs.

[1011] Just shut up.

[1012] I'm like, all right.

[1013] And I guess it was always the case.

[1014] The way we got it financed, we didn't even know, but that was always a case.

[1015] And so we're like, okay, well, we'll hope for the best.

[1016] I mean, they have a lot of outlets.

[1017] They got it for peanuts.

[1018] They can dump it anywhere, but they're a big company if they want to do something.

[1019] And so we got, this is like a month ago.

[1020] Uh -huh.

[1021] Less than two weeks before the movie came out.

[1022] They're like, okay, we're going to go.

[1023] We're going to be on 850 screens in a week and a half.

[1024] Oh, my.

[1025] Cut a trailer in 48 hours.

[1026] You guys can have input, like call for a note session.

[1027] Oh, my God.

[1028] Send you some poster.

[1029] ideas and like a rough cut of the trailer and let's all talk and we're like this is amazing and and again talk about making those decisions super fast I mean we only had so much input but I was expecting the worst so I was pleasantly surprised when they sent us the first trailer when they sent us the the trailer's fantastic yeah and then I'm now I'm here doing press reviews have been awesome oh man that's very satisfying that I made this movie it kind of goes for broke like when you see it it doesn't play it safe like There's some strong choices, and by and large, it seems to be connecting with the majority of people, and it's very, very satisfying and happy to talk about.

[1030] It has a VOD release.

[1031] It will.

[1032] It's on a bunch of theaters.

[1033] For me, it's like, I'd like people to see it in theaters, of course.

[1034] Yeah.

[1035] Hopefully, we can take these reviews and take some of the awareness, and it gives it better placement when it comes to Apple or whatever it does.

[1036] Is it at Arklight?

[1037] No, because I don't think those theaters are open yet.

[1038] I know it's in Thousand Oaks.

[1039] I was going to say, maybe I'll mask up.

[1040] No one will be there.

[1041] I'm so missing.

[1042] I haven't seen a movie in the theater of nine months or something.

[1043] I mean, I will send you a link.

[1044] And I love this movie, man. So for what's worth, like, it's my favorite thing I've ever done.

[1045] No shit.

[1046] Yeah.

[1047] That's wonderful.

[1048] Partly it's my investment in it, but partly it's like my friend.

[1049] I think he's so talented.

[1050] He really, he like wrote it for me, knowing what I could do.

[1051] If I can do anything, it is this.

[1052] You know what I mean?

[1053] This is me. my A game, like, you know, in my sleep spot.

[1054] And yeah, and I'm just, it gets very dark and I think deals with some subject matter in a very interesting, uh, weighted way.

[1055] And at the same time is also great escapism and still, despite some brutality in it, is a happy place for me because it's this heightened world and most of it's a comedy.

[1056] Well, you know from the couple things I've made.

[1057] My favorite thing is comedy and violence and scary.

[1058] I want all of it in one movie.

[1059] Yeah, yeah, me too.

[1060] The premise is, is you were a kid detective phenom, right?

[1061] You were like a gumshoe child.

[1062] Yeah, yeah.

[1063] And then now you're your age.

[1064] Are you a principal of a school or something?

[1065] No, no, I don't work at this school.

[1066] I'm doing the same thing.

[1067] I'm still a detective, but like for five bucks, I'll try and find your cat.

[1068] And there was a kidnapping.

[1069] My 13 -year -old secretary got kidnapped when I was like 12.

[1070] And I couldn't solve that.

[1071] That has waited on me a lot.

[1072] And in a way, the town, you see the town 20 years later, what was this like gleaming leave it to beaver town yeah very pleasantville when they the flashback stuff yes has now fallen on harder times as well as the character and he gets a shot at redemption when a teenage girl comes in and says my boyfriend was murdered it works on a lot of levels and it's one of those scripts i don't want to like necessarily oversell it but i will say this 90 % of scripts i read even if i like them at first then you get the job and then you start reading it again and And that luster wears off and you start seeing the holes more and the deficiencies.

[1073] And with this for me, and I know because I was with it for five years and I'd kind of revisit it every year and a half, read it again, it got better and better.

[1074] And even on set, I was finding subtext in it.

[1075] I didn't even know was there.

[1076] And even still, even reading reviews, I'm like, oh, yeah.

[1077] Yeah, yeah.

[1078] Like to give you, this is such a small example and it's not a home run.

[1079] It's just like a little flavor.

[1080] But like, I go to this girl, I go to, I asked a question some high school girls.

[1081] and her mom answers the door smoking and is very like dismissive and like she's in the basement and I go down and she's got she has a name Paul written on her head and she's getting paid by some guy 50 bucks to have his name on her head for a week and just that kind of odd like fucked up stuff and I go your mom seems nice and she says yeah she's getting to that age where she thinks she's too cool for me and like it's I'm not saying that that's like a huge that's not a huge punchline it's just the script is full of that like oh it's funny It's a funny and clever inversion of like the regular way.

[1082] It also makes sense on this is 20 years later, 20 years earlier, the old town, it would have been the regular description of, you know, the kids getting too cool for the parents.

[1083] But now everything's, you know, up is down and down is up.

[1084] So often scripts have all these placeholder characters where they're just literally there to drive exposition.

[1085] And then when you read stuff for like that moment, that's a real point of view that someone has.

[1086] That person's not there just to dump some info on you.

[1087] someone took the time to give them a point of view.

[1088] I love detail.

[1089] And comedy's good at that because comedy helps with that because it makes most characters funny.

[1090] They're either the punchline or the strict setup for the punchline.

[1091] So in general, I think comedy, most characters have something to do.

[1092] Yeah, yeah.

[1093] I also think that's a product of getting older and having done it for a while.

[1094] You're just starving for something either authentic as a point of view or something you've not heard or seen before.

[1095] You're just dying to have something get your, your juice is flowing.

[1096] And then sometimes magic happens and you get to do both.

[1097] You know, you're in a really smart storytellers world and they gave you something great to do and a lot to chew on.

[1098] That's a dream.

[1099] Well, I'm head over heels in love with you, Adam Brody.

[1100] Hey, Monica, are you feeling pretty in love?

[1101] Monica doesn't.

[1102] I don't lie.

[1103] Oh, she does.

[1104] Yeah, she will not give it up.

[1105] In fact, I want to say no because he's encouraging me to say yes.

[1106] I normally hear you weigh in a lot more.

[1107] No, that's not true.

[1108] But I guess most people, I listen to a lot of like the doctors and stuff you have on.

[1109] And I guess that's a little more open for debate.

[1110] These are my anecdotes of being a 20 -year -old actor, which maybe don't spawn as much discussion.

[1111] I'm just sucked in.

[1112] I was just sucked in.

[1113] Like me when I direct him.

[1114] You were just kind of like watching the show, right?

[1115] I was not joking about.

[1116] I mean, I'm proud of everyone in chips, but you really did blow everyone out of the water.

[1117] Yeah.

[1118] Yeah.

[1119] It's true.

[1120] Yeah.

[1121] Well, I've also been the worst thing in things.

[1122] So, you know, even's, I've got to balance it out.

[1123] Your wife also has a very funny role in chips.

[1124] Yeah, very fun for her.

[1125] Yeah, yeah.

[1126] We don't really get to see her be an asshole very often.

[1127] Yeah, yeah, it's good.

[1128] And then, you know, it's funny is, of course, in some of the few reviews I made the mistake of reading, we're like, so misogynistic.

[1129] He has her being this one -note bitch.

[1130] And it's like, no, that was exciting for her.

[1131] She's never the one -note bitch.

[1132] Like, she begged me to be the one -note bitch.

[1133] you fucking assholes Anywho Adam Brody I love you Kid Detective I'm genuinely excited to see Monica and I're going to watch it together And okay Well you'll have to text me You have my email Yes When you see it Until I get that I know you didn't see it And then listen Well Geez now I've been given Kind of an ultimatum Again you're one of the Handful of people I just I wish I saw more often Well let's do that Love you too, man. And let's work together again someday.

[1134] Yes.

[1135] Okay.

[1136] Thank you for having me. Bye bye.

[1137] Tell late night, I love her and miss her too.

[1138] We'll do.

[1139] All right.

[1140] Adios.

[1141] Stay tuned for more armchair expert, if you dare.

[1142] And now my favorite part of the show, the fact check with my soulmate, Monica Padman.

[1143] Adam Brody.

[1144] His name is Adam Brody.

[1145] He was fun.

[1146] Oh, what a cutie pie.

[1147] Very cute.

[1148] I came in a little late, so I missed the very beginning, which he was really waxing on about his knowledge on, what's his name, the propulsion guy.

[1149] Oh, yes, Strange Angel.

[1150] Yes.

[1151] Oh, yes.

[1152] Yes, he really retained a lot of that book.

[1153] Yeah.

[1154] He blew me away.

[1155] I know.

[1156] I like it when people have a niche.

[1157] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1158] Yeah, he really is encyclopedic.

[1159] Well, I also think it's interesting because, you know, this guy, what's his name?

[1160] Yeah.

[1161] Fuck.

[1162] Parsons.

[1163] Jack Parsons?

[1164] I think Jack Parsons.

[1165] Jack Parsons.

[1166] Jack Parsons.

[1167] Jack Parsons.

[1168] Has come up in multiple episodes, which is so odd that some people just make their way around.

[1169] He did a much better job of painting the picture of how bizarre he was.

[1170] Like, I'll just kind of mention that he was.

[1171] blew himself up.

[1172] Sometimes I'm interested in that or that he was into the occult.

[1173] But he had like a full.

[1174] He came up in the Beastie Boys conversation.

[1175] Remember because?

[1176] JPL, Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

[1177] Adam had been there.

[1178] Right, right, right.

[1179] Oh my God, Adam, ding, ding, dingles.

[1180] All the Adams love Jack Parsons.

[1181] Yeah.

[1182] So JPL, Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

[1183] Speaking of high tech.

[1184] Ding, ding, ding, ding.

[1185] Ding, dingles, I got to tell you again about another Delta Fawcett.

[1186] More?

[1187] I've probably already blown your mind to the point of...

[1188] I didn't know there could possibly be more.

[1189] It doesn't stop.

[1190] Oh, my God.

[1191] Again, I know, I know, look, they're a sponsor, but it's laughable how much technology that they've come up with that you would have never even thought to question.

[1192] Here's something I took, I just took as fact.

[1193] Okay.

[1194] When you wash your dishes, there's going to get splatter all over.

[1195] Your shirt's going to get wet.

[1196] Yeah.

[1197] The counter is going to get wet.

[1198] splatter is a fact of doing your dishes.

[1199] Yep, I hate it.

[1200] I've got news for you.

[1201] It's not a fact of doing your dishes anymore.

[1202] Delta created this shield spray technology, okay?

[1203] And it prevents splashing.

[1204] On average, it has 90 % less spatter than the standard spray.

[1205] 90 % less splatter.

[1206] And it's just activated by a button.

[1207] And here's what happens.

[1208] It's got a concentrated jet, right, that powers away all the messes.

[1209] sprays it off, but then this shield of water around that jet contains all the splatter when you're washing dishes.

[1210] These guys are wizards.

[1211] Honestly, when you look at a picture of the shield spray faucet, it has this amazing orb around the jet.

[1212] It's like a force field.

[1213] Oh, my God.

[1214] You won't believe it.

[1215] You're just so used to getting spray and splatter everywhere that you, it almost feels like, is this not on?

[1216] Because I should be getting doused everywhere.

[1217] Oh, my God.

[1218] Delta did it again.

[1219] They did it again.

[1220] And I think they're like one step away from just, you'll never even think about your dishes again or anything.

[1221] Do you think they're Gryffindor?

[1222] I think they might be Gryffindor.

[1223] Delta Fawcett's is Gryffern.

[1224] I mean, between the glass jet sprayer, the retractable hose in my bathroom sink.

[1225] And the voice activation.

[1226] And the voice activated.

[1227] And now the bubble?

[1228] And now you don't have to get spray or splatter anywhere.

[1229] Wow.

[1230] Well done, Delta.

[1231] Well done.

[1232] I'm so happy your daughter's named after these faucets.

[1233] Me too.

[1234] I also think they would have definitely hired Jack Parsons to work on their design team.

[1235] Definitely.

[1236] He would have blown some stuff up.

[1237] Maybe that's the next step is that they just explode all the stuff off your dishes.

[1238] And there's no water at all.

[1239] It'd be great for, wow, that'd be interesting if they converted to an explosives company.

[1240] Ooh.

[1241] Ooh.

[1242] I like the beginning of disciplines because you get a lot of rowdy characters.

[1243] Like, once it becomes something that's taught in a college, then it kind of homogenizes the group.

[1244] True.

[1245] But when you just got to, like, find a guy who's good at blowing shit up, which is what Jack Parsons was good at.

[1246] Yeah.

[1247] It just makes for a more colorful history.

[1248] I think the beginning of all these things are the most colorful.

[1249] Well, ding, ding, ding.

[1250] Oh, no. Triple ding?

[1251] People who are at the beginning of starting disciplines, Frank Lloyd Wright.

[1252] Okay.

[1253] Okay, well, but he's 3 ,000 years into architecture.

[1254] But he is a huge pillar of architecture.

[1255] Yes, big time.

[1256] And a lot of people have derived their stuff from him.

[1257] Yeah.

[1258] So his son, Lloyd Wright, was the...

[1259] Architect of the Mayan House?

[1260] It's called the John Sodan House.

[1261] Oh, okay.

[1262] It's called the John Sodan House, also known as the Jaws House or the Franklin House.

[1263] Yeah, and it was the Black Dahlia House.

[1264] Oh.

[1265] Maybe the Mayan House is a different house altogether.

[1266] Anywho.

[1267] So his son, though, was the architect.

[1268] Lloyd Wright, eldest son of Frank Lloyd Wright.

[1269] Tough shoes to fill.

[1270] To go into architecture?

[1271] I know, but he did it.

[1272] He succeeded.

[1273] And then someone was killed there.

[1274] Yeah, fortunately, for his...

[1275] Good for him.

[1276] To keep him in history.

[1277] And also, so he was telling us about the book My Dark Places, which is like virtually the exact same story.

[1278] It's so strange.

[1279] Is it not him?

[1280] It's not the detective?

[1281] No, I'm going to read a little bit about it.

[1282] Do a little reading.

[1283] Okay.

[1284] Geneva Elroy's strangled body was found by a roadside in El Monte, California.

[1285] She was found by children in Babe Ruth Baseball and their coaches on June 22nd, 1958.

[1286] The road lay beside the playing field at Arroyo High School.

[1287] I feel like I know that high school.

[1288] I don't.

[1289] It's somewhere here.

[1290] Okay.

[1291] Officers from the Elmonte City Police.

[1292] Department handed over the investigation to the L .A. Sheriff's Homicide Bureau.

[1293] They chased down leads gathered from the scene and from anonymous tips sent in by area citizens.

[1294] Newspaper accounts about the murder were scarce, as well as the television news accounts.

[1295] There were three murders that had occurred in Elmonte in 1956 by that time, and all had been resolved very quickly.

[1296] After all the leads went dry, the case was eventually abandoned and never solved.

[1297] The murder of Geneva Elroy, who was more commonly called Jean, later contributed to her son's fascination with another unsolved murder in Los Angeles, the January 15th, 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, the killing later called the Black Dahlia case, had some similarities to Gene Elroy's murder.

[1298] Both had been body dumped by the roadside to be found by passerby.

[1299] In his book, Elroy describes the discovery of his mother's body as a classic late -night body dump.

[1300] Yeesh.

[1301] That's not a good phrase.

[1302] Well, to be able to add the word classic, meaning that it's happened.

[1303] throughout history.

[1304] It was a good old -fashioned roadside body dump.

[1305] Gene Elroy's murder would not be remembered because it lacked the media attention that followed the Dahlia murder.

[1306] Elizabeth Short's body was found cut in half in the newspaper accounts which described short as a beautiful Hollywood aspiring starlet drew more interest and attention, including Elroy's.

[1307] Bissected.

[1308] Wait.

[1309] In the Black Dahlia, Elroy created a fictional story around the murder of Elizabeth Short.

[1310] In My Dark Places, Elroy writes a true crime memoir, chasing down the facts of his mother's murder as a cold case.

[1311] Huh.

[1312] If I'm understanding this correctly, which is so interesting, level of coincidence.

[1313] So it sounds like the son of one of the victims turned out to be a detective, and it sounds like the son of the murderer turned out to be a detective.

[1314] That's the difference, right?

[1315] One person wrote a book about investigating their mother's murder.

[1316] Yeah.

[1317] And the other guy investigated his own father to exonerate him, but discovered he was there.

[1318] So what are the odds that both?

[1319] Well, no, I guess it's high odds.

[1320] If, like, your mother was killed, yeah, you're probably going to law enforcement as people whose parents die of cancer go into oncology or whatever.

[1321] Well, he didn't go, did he go into law enforcement?

[1322] Well, didn't that guy say that the writer of the book was a detective, an L .A. detective, and then wrote a book?

[1323] I don't think he's a detective.

[1324] Oh, my God, we know less now than we knew.

[1325] You didn't listen to my Wikipedia story very well.

[1326] I did.

[1327] I did.

[1328] Okay, let's see.

[1329] But when Adam brought it up, he was referencing a detective who wrote a book, I thought, which is why we're now talking about it.

[1330] None of us have the time to figure this out.

[1331] I don't think he's a detective.

[1332] Okay.

[1333] The other one was, the guy who exposed the Black Dahlia murder, his dad, was a detective.

[1334] Yes, he was a very decorated L .A. detective.

[1335] In L .A., in this case, stands for Louisiana.

[1336] No. Los Angeles.

[1337] Yes.

[1338] Yes.

[1339] I have bad news for you.

[1340] Oh, great.

[1341] I'm sorry about this.

[1342] Tell me. Down the hatch and out the stanch is taken on.

[1343] I'm not surprised.

[1344] Yeah.

[1345] People are embracing it.

[1346] Yeah.

[1347] Oh, I thought it was funny.

[1348] He said he talks to himself.

[1349] Oh, yeah, yeah.

[1350] Do you talk to yourself?

[1351] I don't think I don't talk to myself, but it's not something that I like, like, it sounds like he does it quite a bit.

[1352] I'd love to have a camera in his house to hear him talk to himself.

[1353] Yeah, so I don't think so.

[1354] I have...

[1355] I feel like you would.

[1356] Yeah.

[1357] I do.

[1358] Yeah, yeah.

[1359] Well, you said we were talking yesterday about my penchant to embarrass myself in the mirror, drive myself to embarrassment.

[1360] Yeah.

[1361] And you said you don't do that, but you do get embarrassed in your apartment.

[1362] And it's generally when you're talking out loud, right?

[1363] Yeah, talking to myself or singing.

[1364] Yeah, but not in front of the mirror, just more like moving through life.

[1365] Correct.

[1366] And you'll start laughing at yourself.

[1367] Yeah.

[1368] Or I'll just think, I'm glad no one's here.

[1369] Right, right.

[1370] That's the moment you're looking for.

[1371] Yeah.

[1372] In the mirror for me, at least.

[1373] I really want to see some of those faces.

[1374] I mean, you make crazy faces.

[1375] So I can't imagine.

[1376] It would be insufferable for you because the things that make you uncomfortable when I'm doing characters, they're like a two out of where I go in the mirror to a 10.

[1377] I would love to see it.

[1378] Like, this is a common voice like, like really annoying, gross voice.

[1379] I mean, Jess does that voice all the time.

[1380] Yeah.

[1381] I was always impressed with Jess's confidence in doing that.

[1382] It's mind -blowing because, yeah, he does several of the things in public that make me break in the mirror.

[1383] Oh, interesting.

[1384] So you've got to applaud that confidence, don't you?

[1385] You sure do.

[1386] Yeah, it's impressive.

[1387] Oh, Jessica.

[1388] Also, the fact that he showed us his butthole, that took so much confidence.

[1389] You know what?

[1390] That's actually, that is a cliffhanger for Monica and Jess.

[1391] In our first episode, it's me, you and him.

[1392] Uh -huh.

[1393] And we dangle a cliffhanger about the dood.

[1394] Oh, right.

[1395] And we say, in the last episode, we'll tell you what that is.

[1396] Oh, no. And then we did not.

[1397] We didn't.

[1398] No. Oh, my God.

[1399] I wouldn't feel ethical about talking about the doodad without him here to make sure that he, what level of.

[1400] Comfort.

[1401] Yeah, or just, what level.

[1402] of detail he wants the doodad to be.

[1403] Okay.

[1404] So it's still a mystery.

[1405] It is.

[1406] But it involves Zanis.

[1407] Yeah.

[1408] That's a hint.

[1409] So, and it wasn't pooty.

[1410] It was not pooty.

[1411] Now it wasn't poody.

[1412] Fortunately.

[1413] And everything's healed.

[1414] I'll also add that.

[1415] I don't want to think he has a permanent doodle.

[1416] Not doodle.

[1417] Doodad.

[1418] Doodad.

[1419] Yeah.

[1420] Oh my goodness.

[1421] And we had a lot of fun imagining that the doctor would actually say, well, what you have here is textbook doodad.

[1422] So are in Latin And doodotus daddle.

[1423] Doodad is just such a funny word.

[1424] It's like poody.

[1425] It's like poody.

[1426] And it's also like, what's the other word I like?

[1427] Jiblets for tiny little poops.

[1428] Poop lends itself to a lot of funny words.

[1429] It does.

[1430] We should move to Germany.

[1431] Okay.

[1432] Speaking of pooty.

[1433] Blue's clues.

[1434] Oh, okay.

[1435] That is pooty because blue is a dog.

[1436] And he makes pooty.

[1437] Oh, okay.

[1438] Yeah, that's right.

[1439] Dogs make poohy.

[1440] The original poody story came from a little puppy dog that was making poody everywhere.

[1441] Four or five puppy dogs making poody.

[1442] There was definite pooty.

[1443] Yeah.

[1444] So Blue is a dog.

[1445] Uh -huh.

[1446] He has clues.

[1447] And the guy's name is Steve Burns, the original host.

[1448] Okay.

[1449] His character name or the actor's name?

[1450] Both.

[1451] Oh, wow.

[1452] I think he was named Steve.

[1453] Oh, he went by Steve.

[1454] Yeah.

[1455] Okay, yeah, right.

[1456] And you wondered if there was a scandal or did he age out.

[1457] Yeah.

[1458] So I'm going to do some more reading.

[1459] Oh, great.

[1460] After nearly six years and 100 episodes, Burns announced that he would be departing Blues Clues in 2002.

[1461] A hundred episodes.

[1462] That's a lot of episodes.

[1463] Wow.

[1464] According to Johnson, Burns never wanted to become a children's host.

[1465] He loved kids, but stated he could not make a lifelong career out of it.

[1466] Burns went on by saying, I knew I wasn't going to be doing children's television on my life, mostly because I refused to lose my hair on a kids TV show and it was happening fast.

[1467] Okay.

[1468] That's the thing I'm remembering.

[1469] It wasn't anything unethical.

[1470] It's just he was going bald.

[1471] Now I remember.

[1472] Yeah.

[1473] Okay.

[1474] The day following the filming of his final episode for the show, he shaved his head.

[1475] Something that he wanted to do for many years, but the show's producers would not allow it.

[1476] On the FAQ section of his webpage, when asked why he shaved his head.

[1477] And if he had been trying to make a statement, Burns replied, yes, the statement is, we have male pattern baldness.

[1478] Good for Steve.

[1479] Byrne's departure caused a resurface of the rumors that had circulated about him since 1998.

[1480] Okay.

[1481] Burns replied, the rumor mills surrounding me has always been really strange.

[1482] Some of these claims included death from a heroin overdose, being killed in a car accident.

[1483] And like what was rumored to have happened to Paul McCartney in 1996, him having been replaced with a lookalike.

[1484] Oh, that's weird.

[1485] Yeah.

[1486] After Burns' departure, the Blues Clues actor was then replaced by Donovan Patton as Steve's younger brother, Joe.

[1487] Could have been you.

[1488] Yeah.

[1489] I guess that's who I was reading for, Joe.

[1490] Burns made an appearance on the Rosie O'Donnell show to dispute these rumors, and he and co -creator Angela Santomero appeared on the Today Show to help concern parents extinguish the fears of kids who may have heard these rumors.

[1491] Oh, Steve.

[1492] Poor Steve.

[1493] He's been through the ringer.

[1494] Yeah.

[1495] Almost replaced by Dak Sheper.

[1496] Could have been.

[1497] Then I would have had to shave my hands.

[1498] You would have used hymns for men.

[1499] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1500] In fact, well, I was just about to start using hymns for men.

[1501] Yeah.

[1502] Yeah, because it was the punk pilot where I discovered that I was on the wrong trajectory.

[1503] Yeah, I discovered I was bald.

[1504] Right, thank you.

[1505] Somebody else almost got blues clues.

[1506] I know.

[1507] I think like two other people almost got blues clues.

[1508] I think the thing Bateman and I share is that we both were almost, can you hear me now, guy.

[1509] Oh, yeah.

[1510] That's cool.

[1511] Like, I had gone on a call back for it and then a second call back for it.

[1512] And I think he did as well.

[1513] Oh.

[1514] Yeah.

[1515] But was it, was it, boy, it couldn't have been.

[1516] I forget who it was.

[1517] But you're right.

[1518] You know what?

[1519] We're going to have to go back and listen to all the episodes.

[1520] Yeah.

[1521] We'll see you in 600 hours.

[1522] Okay.

[1523] So Adam's MTV show was called undressed.

[1524] He couldn't remember the name, but it's called undressed.

[1525] Couldn't remember the name.

[1526] Also, he mentioned that Johnny Depp was the exception who worked again after 902 .10 .1.

[1527] I do not remember.

[1528] He wasn't on 902 .1, but he was on 21 Jump Street, which was also a teen show that he shouldn't have been able.

[1529] Yeah, but then when I Googled Johnny Depp 902 and O, it came up.

[1530] Saying what?

[1531] I mean, I very much think he was referencing being the lead of a very popular teen show 21 Jumpy.

[1532] Beverly Hills 902 and O 'Brien, which introduced Johnny Depp and Beverly Hills, 9 ,2 ,000, a primetime soap opera in the fictional West Beverly Hills School.

[1533] I mean, this is according to Britannica.

[1534] Well, we could go to IMDB and see if he has any credit for 902 and O. I'll do it now.

[1535] I do know the origin of Johnny Depp's acting, which is really a good, fascinating Hollywood story.

[1536] Yeah, he wasn't on 902 .1 because he was on 21 Jump Street from 87 to 1990.

[1537] And then Edward Scissorhans is his next movie.

[1538] So he's definitely not going back.

[1539] Okay.

[1540] Do some scrolling.

[1541] No, I did.

[1542] Okay.

[1543] So I can read them all to you.

[1544] You ready?

[1545] No, no, no. Nightmare and Elm Street, Domney's, Private Resort, Lady Blue, RPG, Slow Burn, Platoon, Hotel, RPG, 2, Cry Baby, then 21 Jump Street, then Edward Cisorhands.

[1546] Okay.

[1547] All right, so you're ready for the fun Hollywood story?

[1548] Yeah.

[1549] So apparently, so he was a musician, and Nick Cage befriended him.

[1550] They were buddies.

[1551] Okay.

[1552] And I want to say that they were even in a part, for some reason I have this notion that they were in a parking garage and they were daring each other to hang off the side and then climb back up and then on this evening Johnny Depp was having some financial issues as a struggling musician and Nick Cage said you should be an actor I'll introduce you to my agent and that's how we got into acting wow yeah Nicholas Cage one of his other contributions to film and television yeah wow unsung hero he was right he should have been an actor he was damn right God he's so good he's so right he's so right he's so right he's So right.

[1553] He's so mysterious.

[1554] Nick Cage or Johnny Depp?

[1555] Johnny Depp.

[1556] Oh, yeah, yeah.

[1557] I'm nervous talking about him now.

[1558] Why?

[1559] Because didn't he have some allegations?

[1560] And she's, I don't know.

[1561] There's something sticky there.

[1562] Oh, he's still an actor.

[1563] Jonathan Depp?

[1564] Yeah.

[1565] Yeah, yeah.

[1566] But he is still an actor.

[1567] What was he in recently?

[1568] I don't know.

[1569] I just mean like we can talk about him as an actor because he is one.

[1570] Oh, yes, yes, yes.

[1571] I'm just, you know, anytime someone has been associated with any kind of you want abuse and then you're like oh my god i love him i love him and then people right like how could you love him he's an animal i don't i don't even know anything about what i'm saying i just know that in my head i got a little bit of a red flag like oh be careful i think there is some weird okay so we're not saying anything about his personal no i have no opinion other than i did bring up the other day that he got arrested in australia i believe for bringing his dog in he's come up a few times lately Yeah, yeah.

[1572] Whoa, Bader Meinhauf.

[1573] Johnny Debt just text you?

[1574] Frequency illusion.

[1575] What?

[1576] No, I was just about to give a fact about Kristen, and Kristen texted me. Oh, my gosh.

[1577] Do I know what she said?

[1578] Yeah.

[1579] Because I said, what are you doing during the day to day?

[1580] Because I know she's off.

[1581] I said, want to play spades with me and Matt and Laura?

[1582] We can do rotations if Dax wants to play.

[1583] And then she said, hey, sorry.

[1584] just seeing this, I'd love to play Spades.

[1585] Dax and I plan to catch up on Ratchet, but let me check with him when he gets home.

[1586] Uh -huh.

[1587] I was curious to see how that was going to unfold because we did have a Ratchet scheduled.

[1588] Okay.

[1589] Yeah.

[1590] Sounds like she got it all in.

[1591] She'd love to play, and she had a prior commitment of Ratchet, and let's see how it all unfolds.

[1592] Great.

[1593] The fact about her is how late did she go on House of Lies?

[1594] She wrapped 11 days before giving birth.

[1595] Okay, so pretty darn pregnant.

[1596] So all the way to the very, very tippy top end.

[1597] Three way.

[1598] Funny joke.

[1599] I'm sure some people didn't like it, but it's very funny.

[1600] I think it's very funny.

[1601] That's all for the Brody.

[1602] Oh, okay.

[1603] Well, sure love Adam Brody.

[1604] It made me miss him.

[1605] Yeah.

[1606] I want to hang out with them.

[1607] Do it.

[1608] I love you.

[1609] I love you.

[1610] Bye.

[1611] I love you.

[1612] Bye.

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